Closure plate for hot blast valve



y 11, 1967 H. JANSEN ETAL 3,330,334

CLOSURE PLATE FOR HOT BLAST VALVE Filed Aug. 23, 1965 FIG. 3

FIG. I

INVENTORS Hermann Jansen Luo'wi Wit/18? BY A700) 05 Bauer wEnynmndJezo/s fa/Ins 14 TTORA/[Kj United States Patent 3,330,334 CLOSUREPLATE FOR HOT BLAST VALVE Hermann Jansen, Ludwig Walther, and MathiasBauer,

Duren, Rhineland, Germany, and Raymond Lewis Johns, Cyncoed, Cardiff,England, assignors to Zimmermann & Jansen, G.m.b.H., Rhineland, Germany,a

corporation of Germany, and Thomas, Richard & Baldwins Ltd, London,England, a corporation of England,

jointly Filed Aug. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 481,526 2 Claims. (Cl. 165-47) Theinvention relates to a closure plate for a hot blast valve andparticularly to a closure plate provided with means for cooling the sameby passing a coolant therethrough.

It is known to provide a closure plate for a hot blast valve which isbasically hollow and which is provided with spirally-shaped guide wallsso that the coolant is led from the periphery of the plate toward thecenter thereof and back again to the periphery. Such spiral arrangementsfor guiding the coolant is intended to secure increased and improvedheat exchange, especially at the sidewalls of the closure plate. Inaccordance with such arrangement, however, the direction of flow throughthe closure plate requires a reversal and this is a serious disadvantagewhich directly affects the efficiency of the cooling system.

In accordance with the present invention, the aboveentioneddisadvantages are overcome in the simplest possible way. Morespecifically, the closure plate in accordance with the invention isprovided with a partition which divides the hollow body of the plateinto two chambers. The partition is provided at each side thereof with aspiral guide which extends in each chamber from the periphery to thecenter. The parting wall is perforated at the center to establish fluidcommunication between the two spiral guides and the latter two spiralguides are wound in opposite direction from each other.

The provision of the partition reduces the volume of liquid required inthe hollow body of the closure plate without, however, reducing the heatexchange surfaces which remain constant since only the boundary layer ofthe coolant against the inside of the hollow body governs heat exchange.Accordingly, the reduction in the internal space of the hollow bodycauses a substantial increase in flow velocity resulting in improvedheat exchange which is also increased as a result of the guide spiralson the two sides of the partition and the resulting enforced guided flowof the coolant.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide aclosure plate for a hot blast valve which has improved heat transfercharacteristics.

It is another object of the invention to provide a closure plate for ahot blast valve whose hollow body is divided by a partition apertured atthe center thereof and provided at each side thereof with reverselywound spiral guides extending from the periphery to the centralaperture.

It is another object of the invention to provide a closure plate for ahot blast valve having spirally formed coolant guide means arranged sothat coolant flows through the closure plate at increased velocity andwithout reversing direction.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will be more fully understood from the following descriptionconsidered in connection with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of the closure plate in accordance withthe invention with the front side wall thereof removed and with someparts shown in section for purposes of illustration;

3,3395334 Patented July 11, 1957 FIG. 2 is a rear elevation view of theclosure plate in accordance with the invention with the rear side wallthereof removed and with some parts shown in section for purposes ofillustration;

FIG. 3 is a view taken along line 33 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 3 but showing amodification of the preferred embodiment.

Referring now to the drawings, numeral 10 identifies the closure platefor the hot blast valve in accordance with the invention. Closure plateIt) is defined by opposite side walls 12 and 14 and peripheral wall 16.

In accordance with the invention, the hollow body of the closure plate,defined interiorly of side walls 12 and 14 and peripheral wall 16, isdivided by a partition wall 18 into chambers 20 and 22, respectively.Partition wall 18 is provided with a pair of spirally formed guides,namely spiral guide 24 in chamber 22 and spiral guide 26 in chamber 20.

Preferably, the spiral guides 24 and 26 are integral with partition wall18 and are provided at spaced intervals, as at 28, with enlargedportions which are apertured to receive pins or other similar means forsecuring the partition wall to confronting side walls 12 and 14.Partition 18 is provided with a center aperture 30 to provide fluidcommunication between chambers 29 and 22 at the opposite sides of thepartition.

A pair of pipe communications 32 and 34 define the coolant inlet andoutlets, respectively, for the closure plate. More specifically, and asbest shown in FIG. 1, inlet 32 communicates with spiral conduit 36, thelatter being defined by side wall 12, spiral guide 24, partition wall 13and peripheral Wall 16. Similarly outlet pipe 34, as best shown in FIG.2 communicates with spiral conduit 38, the latter being defined by sidewall 14, spiral guide 26, partition wall 13 and peripheral wall 16.

With this arrangement, it will be evident that the coolant introducedinto inlet 32 travels spirally through conduit 36 until it reaches thecenter of the closure plate at which time is passes through aperture 30and then continues traveling in the same direction, spirally, throughconduit 38 until it exits through outlet 34. Thus, it will be noted thatin accordance with the above arrangement the coolant travelscontinuously, without reversal, through the closure plate. On the otherhand, however, while there is no turnabout of direction of coolant flow,there is a reversal of spiral flow as the coolant makes its way from thecenter to the periphery.

Such fiow produces a novel type distribution of the coolant. Morespecifically, at one side of the partition, the coolant flows spirallyfrom the periphery of the plate to the center thereof in acounterclockwise direction as shown by arrows A in FIG. 1. From suchcenter, the coolant now flows spirally from said center to the peripheryof the plate in a clockwise direction as shown by arrows B in FIG. 2,with the coolant flow at all times, however, being in the samedirection, and not involved in a reversal of flow direction. In essencethen, the flow of the coolant is continuous with practically no changeof direction whatsoever from the periphery to the center and from thecenter to the periphery. Such arrangement enables the coolant to flow ata much higher velocity than was previously possible resulting, in turn,in a far greater and more efiicient heat exchange. Furthermore, thecontinuous fiow of the coolant through the closure plate prevents anycontaminants which may be present in the coolant from being depositedanywhere inside the closure plate as the high velocity of the coolantwill carry such contaminants out of the closure plate. The use of thepartition 18 which subdivides the hollow space in the closure plate hasa favorable influence on the heat exchange for the cooling of the largesurface areas of the side walls, because, to some extent, the partitionwall fills the inside space of the hollow body and thus increases theflow at the inside surfaces of the side walls 12 and 14, resulting in amore efiicient heat transfer. Furthermore, the coolant is subject toenforced flow by the spiral guides 24 and 26 which helps to increase theflow velocity further and improve the heat exchange. For such heatexchange purposes, the cooling medium can be considered as beingsubdivided into thin layers whichfiow alongside the side walls. In thisway, a firm and close relation is created between the side walls 12 and14 together with the partition 18 and its spiral guides 24 and 26 whichprovide for opposite spiral directions of rotation on the opposite sidesof the partition.

The partition wall 18 has been illustrated as being secured to theopposing side walls by means of pins or dowels passing through theapertures in enlarged spiral guide portions 28 and through correspondingapertures in the side walls. Alternately, the partition 18 can besecured in position by being snugly held between the opposite side walls12 and 14 which are independently secured to each other. In thisconnection, it will be noted that the width of the spiral guides isexactly equal to the distance between the opposing side walls.

In the preferred embodiment as shown in FIG. 3 the partition wall 18 hasa tapering outer circumferential edge at its periphery as shown at 38.This preferred arrangement increases the water space immediatelyadjacent the inside surface of outer peripheral wall 16 and does provideincreased cooling thereof. If desired, a small gap may be providedbetween the peripheral edge of partition 18 and peripheral wall 16 topermit a small flow of coolant through this gap, such gap being shown asat 40 in FIG. 4.

While we have herein shown and described the preferred embodiment of ourinvention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodiedotherwise than as herein specifically illustrated or described, and thatin the illustrated embodiment certain changes in the details ofconstruction and in the form and arrangement of parts may he madewithout departing from the underlying idea or principles of thisinvention within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent is: V

1. Closure plate for a hot blast valve comprising: a pair of side wallsseparated by a peripheral wall defining therebetween a hollow enclosure;

a partition provided between said side walls and dividing said enclosureinto a pair of separate chambers;

said partition having an aperture to provide fluid communication meansbetween said two chambers;

means in each chamber defining a conduit for the passage of a coolantthrough said chamber;

said conduit defining means in each'chamber comprising spiral guidemeans extending from the periphery of each chamber to the aperture insaid partition whereby a continuous coolant flow is provided from theperiphery of one of said chambers, through said 7 aperture, and to theperiphery of the other of said chambers;

said spiral guide means in said chambers being arranged so that thespiral flow of coolant in one of said chambers is in a spiral directionopposite to the spiral flow of coolant in the other of said chambers;

the periphery of said chambers being defined by said peripheral wall;

said partition being pointed and tapered at its periphery whereby anincreased coolant space is provided adjacent said peripheral Wall.

2. Closure plate in accordance with claim 1, wherein a small gap isdefined between the peripheral edge of the partition and the peripheralwall.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 576,859 2/1897 Koester 165-1701,961,660 6/1934 Fehrmann 165-170 2,005,515 6/1935 Winkler 165l68 XMEYER PERLIN, Primary Examiner.

40 ROBERT A. OLEARY, Examiner.

A. W. DAVIS, Assistant Examiner.

1. CLOSURE PLATE FOR A HOT BLAST VALVE COMPRISING: A PAIR OF SIDE WALLSSEPARATED BY A PERIPHERAL WALL DEFINING THEREBETWEEN A HOLLOW ENCLOSURE;A PARTITION PROVIDED BETWEEN SAID SIDE WALLS AND DIVIDING SAID ENCLOSUREINTO A PAIR OF SEPARATE CHAMBERS; SAID PARTITION HAVING AN APERTURE TOPROVIDE FLUID COMMUNICATION MEANS BETWEEN SAID TWO CHAMBERS; MEANS INEACH CHAMBER DEFINING A CONDUIT FOR THE PASSAGE OF A COOLANT THROUGHSAID CHAMBER; SAID CONDUIT DEFINING MEANS IN EACH CHAMBER COMPRISINGSPIRAL GUIDE MEANS EXTENDING FROM THE PERIPHERY OF EACH CHAMBER TO THEAPERTURE IN SAID PARTITION WHEREBY A CONTINUOUS COOLANT FLOW IS PROVIDEDFROM THE PERIPHERY OF ONE OF SAID CHAMBERS, THROUGH SAID APERTURE, ANDTO THE PERIPHERY OF THE OTHER OF SAID CHAMBERS; SAID SPIRAL GUIDE MEANSIN SAID CHAMBERS BEING ARRANGED SO THAT THE SPIRAL FLOW OF COOLANT INONE OF SAID CHAMBERS IS IN A SPIRAL DIRECTION OPPOSITE TO THE SPIRALFLOW OF COOLANT IN THE OTHER OF SAID CHAMBERS; THE PERIPHERY OF SAIDCHAMBERS BEING DEFINED BY SAID PERIPHERAL WALL; SAID PARTITION BEINGPOINTED AND TAPERED AT ITS PERIPHERY WHEREBY AN INCREASED COOLANT SPACEIS PROVIDED ADJACENT SAID PERIPHERAL WALL.